What You Need to Know About Returning Unwanted Xmas Presents

Merry Christmas… Hopefully the day was still good, even if some of you didn’t completely fall in love with some of your presents!

If you’re looking to return one or some or all of your Christmas haul – we’ve got some good news and bad news for you when it comes to your rights.

Good news – if you’ve received something that’s broken, defective, or doesn’t match the advertised description, you can return it to the store it was originally purchased from for either cash or store credit. Or you can even get a replacement if you do love it!

You can do all of those things, even if the item was bought online, or during a sale.

In an interview with the ABC, Lawyer Katie Miller spoke about Australian Consumer Law rules – especially to do with Christmas time.

“The first thing to know is that the rules are no different at Christmas time compared to any other time of the year,” she said.

“It’s the Australian Consumer Law, this is actually a federal law and the shops are bound by these things.”

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So, stores who advertise no refunds, or no refunds on sale items, or anything similar – are actually breaching Australian Consumer Law when it comes to broken or misleading items.

However, if your gift is in perfect condition, as it most likely will be, and it’s just that you don’t really like it – there’s a little challenge in front of you.

Step 1 – you’ll need to ask for a receipt from whoever bought the item… which can be pretty awkward – but not impossible!

Once you have the receipt, it’s still not a sure thing. Stores don’t have to accept returns when it’s just a change of mind.

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Large retailers like Myer and David Jones will let you return items that are not faulty if it’s “within a timely manner” and in a “saleable condition”, but they are not legally required to do it.

Otherwise… you could try Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree and eBay OR donate your unwanted gift to your local Op Shop.